Friday, April 10, 2015

your display is offensive

These incidents upset me - so much has been taken from indigenous people all around this world, yet it is not enough, they still want more, they want everything.

Nearly 1000 people have signed a petition to have a Native American doll removed from an Auckland mini golf course display.

The doll, that has been labelled a "grotesque caricature", is part of the Lilliputt Around the World Minigolf course at Sylvia Park shopping centre and depicts a Native American man sitting in a tepee...

Rachel Hopkins, a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahomasaid she could not see a way to make the display culturally appropriate.

"The point here is that the community decides how they are represented, and takes the lead in creating that, not the other way around," she said.

"And it's not about seeking permission after the fact."

And that is the point, well made by Rachel. NO ONE gets to decide how indigenous people represent themselves, except members of the group themselves. This is a basic tenet that cannot be broken unless the group decides it can be. It cannot be seeking permission after the fact - don't bother - just take it down and start again. And starting means talking with the group you wish to represent. Otherwise it is just a continuation of the denigration and othering of indigenous people that happens everywhere.